Family Flashcards
Family
Group of people who live together who are related by kinship types such as relations of blood, marriage, civil partnership, adoption and cohabitation
Kinship
Refers to relations of blood, marriage / civil partnership or adoption
Household
One person / group of people all living in one address
Nuclear family
Two generations: parents and children living in the same household
Beanpole family
A multi-generation extended family which is long and thin with few aunts, uncles, cousins, reflecting fewer children being born in each generation, but people living together longer
Reconstituted family
One or both partners were previously married, with children of previous relationships
Matrifocal family
A family where the mother heads the family and father plays less important role in the home and bringing up children
Single parent family
Lone parent with dependent children mostly common after divorce or separation
Same sex family
Same sex couple living together with children
Extended family
All kin beyond the nuclear family
Chosen family
Non-biological kinship bonds, wether legally recognised or not, deliberately chosen for the purpose of mutual support and love
George Murdock 4 functions of the family
- Sexual - expressing sexuality in a socially approved context
- Reproduction - family providing some stability for the reproduction and rearing of children
- Socialisation - unit of primary socialisation
- Economic - family provides food and shelter for family members
Criticisms of George Murdock
- out of date: over 60 years ago
- structural differentiation: new institutions have emerged replacing old ones
- false universality: not all societies work the same way, some don’t have families at all
- ignores diversity: makes assumption nuclear family is still most prevalent
Talcott parsons theory on family
As society changes the type of family which fits that society and the functions of it change, the nuclear family fits the more complex industrial society better but performs a reduced number of functions
Talcott parsons 2 functions nuclear family performs
- primary socialisation
- stabilisation of adult personalities
What is primary socialisation
Parsons argues that society would cease to exist if the new generation were not socialised into accepting society’s basic norms and values. He argues socialisation in the family is so powerful that cultures become part of a persons personality and people are molded into terms of the central values of the culture and act without thinking about it
What is stabilisation of adult personalities
Family help stabilise personalities as a result of early gender role socialisation and the sexual division of labour
Warm bath theory
Work life is stressful, the family is a place where the working man can return home and be de-stressed by his wife and reduces society’s conflict
Criticisms of parsons view
- Downplays conflict - ‘dark side’ of family with domestic abuse and child abuse
- Being out of date
- Functionalism is too deterministic - robotic adoption of societies values via our parents isn’t always true
What is the Marxist view on family
- nuclear family is a tool of captialism
- capitalist societies are unequal and privatised nuclear family is necessary to maintain that inequality
Engels - inheritance of wealth views
- classless societies
- private ownership and profits
- pass on wealth, need for monogamy
- reproduction of inequality
Althusser: socialisation into social hierarchy views
- working class must submit to ruling class
- family is an ideological state apparatus
- passed on the ideology of the ruling class
- ruling class tries to maintain false class consciousness
Zaretsky: the cushioning effect view
- family acts as a comfort from the stresses of an industrial society
- similar to warm bath theory
- family allows men to feel in control to make up for oppression in society
- prevents revolution
Zaretsky: the family as a unit of consumption views
- wages low enough for profits, but high enough for spending
- advertising and media contribute
- family’s must keep up with other families
- children targeted in advertising
How does the nuclear family reproduce
Helps creates the next generation of workers
What are the ideological functions of the family
- prevents revolution
- socialisation into the social hierarchy
Positive evaluations of marxist view of family
- offers an explanation as to why the ‘dark side’ of family exists
- discusses the idea that nuclear family is a social construct and not always good for society
Negative evaluations of marxist view of family
- too deterministic
- ignores family diverse
- overly negative
What do feminists believe the nuclear family has traditionally done
- socialisation
- legitimise inequality
What do the liberal feminists believe
- women’s position in the family can have adverse effects on their power
- gender inequality is caused by the public sphere, rather than just at home
- inequality = inequal pay (past)
- best way to improve the position of women is through reform measures
Jenny somerville (2000): March of progress view concept
- many feminists have failed to acknowledge progress for women
- increase in dual earning households has help equalise relationships
- changes to government policies
- changes to parenting, children aren’t automatically socialised to gender norms anymore
- changes in social attitudes (reproductive and divorce)
Criticisms of the liberal feminist view from a intersectional feminist
Liberal feminism is a ethnocentric view, reflects the experiences of mainly white middle class women
Criticisms of the liberal feminist view from a radical feminist
Fails to deal with the patriarchal structures and culture in contemporary family life
Criticisms of the liberal feminist view from Ann Oakley
Household work is still primarily a women’s job and the housework is still largely gendered
Criticism of the liberal feminist view
Overstates progress
women are still expected to triple shift
What do marxist feminists believe
- women are doubly exploited - both as workers and as women
- women’s work in the family contributes to the maintenance of capitalism
Beechy (1970s) : reproduction of the labour force
- ruling class supplied with a readily available and passive workforce
- ensures workers return to work renewed
- women socialise children into accepting authority
- unpaid domestic labour
Beechy (1970s): Army of cheap labour
- women ‘normal role’ restricts them from working
- women ready in the background
- men unlikely to revolt out of fear women will be given work instead
Ansley (1962): absorb anger
- women absorb the anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism
- women are victims of male frustration
- women are ‘takers of shit’ under capitalism
Soft solutions to tackle capitalism to tackle patriarchy
- payment for invisible work
- closing the pay gap
Hard solutions to tackle capitalism to tackle patriarchy
- revolution to overthrow capitalist systems
Criticisms of the marxist feminist view
- women are no longer the reserve army of the labour
- women are oppressed in non-capitalist societies
- domestic violence laws
What do radical feminists believe
- all relationships between me and women are based on patriarchy
- nuclear family is where this system of oppression starts, founder of patriarchy
- women have acquired ‘dual burden’ of paid work and unpaid housework and the family remains patriarchal, men benefit from paid earnings and their domestic labour
Millett (1960-70s): the family is a reflection of patriarchy in society concept
Both a mirror of and a connection with the larger society, a patriarchal unit within patriarchy as a whole. Family effects control and conformity where political and other authorities are insufficient
Millett (1960-70s): Ownership concept
Traditionally, patriarchy granted the father nearly total ownership over wife/wives and children (physical, murder, sale)
Delphi and Leonard (1992): socialisation concept
Contribution of the family in patriarchy in the socialisation of the young into patriarchal attitudes towards the categories of role, temperament, and status - women socialised into aiding men through triple shift
Separatism
Women must organise themselves to live independently of men
Political lesbianism
Heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive
Matrilocal households
All female households
Criticisms of the radical feminist view
- ignores progress which has been made
- solutions are unobtainable
- assumes women are passive
What do intersectional feminists believe
- false universality of women’s experience in the family
- every women will have different experience of family
- focus is on nuclear family but they do acknowledge other family types
- does ignore some shared experiences (pay gap)
New right view on family
Supports traditional values and institutions and its view on the role, importance and functions of traditional family is similar to functionalist view - there is only one correct/normal family type (nuclear) - natural family type.
The decline and growth of family diversity is the cause of many social problems
Murray (1989) concept
Welfare state led to a dependency culture from the state that these encourage single parenting which they argue leads to deviancy and decline in morality.
Criticisms of new right beliefs about the family
- exaggeration of the decline of the nuclear family
- gender roles are socially determined
- most single parents are not welfare scroungers
Personal life perspective of family
Internationalist perspective which criticises structural perspectives (func,Marx,fem) for assuming nuclear family is the dominant family type and taking that as a base unit for analysis.
- family is not in decline, just very difficult and much more diverse and complex than before
What is the personal life perspectives criticisms of structural perspectives (2)
- tend to assume the traditional nuclear family is the dominant family type and ignores increased diversity
- they assume families and their members are simply passive puppets manipulated by the structure of society to perform certain functions
Nordqvist and Smart concept
Parents often emphasised the importance of social relationships over genetic ones
Carol Smart concept
Prioritises bonds between people, importance of memory, cultural heritage, significance of emotions, how family secrets work and change over time.
Draws attention to range of other personal or intimate relationships that are important to people even if they’re not conventionally defined as family
Positive evaluations of personal life perspective
- helps people construct and define ‘family’ rather than imposing traditional sociological definitions
- rejects the top-down view taken by other perspectives
- recognises people are active in constructing relationships
Criticisms of personal life perspective
- too broad of a view
- provide more financial support to children than friends
- a nationally representative sample of ‘families’ very difficult
What do postmodernist believe
Recent social changes such as increasing social fragmentation, greater diversity and technological changes have made family more a matter of personal choice and as a result families have become more unstable and more diverse
There is no longer one typical type of family e.g. nuclear family, there is more diversity and it’s no longer possible to make general theories about the role of the family in society like they’ve done in the past
Anthony Giddens (needs based family) concept
People have more choice in their relationships and family arrangements, no family stays in the same structure or divisions they change as circumstances change - couples stay together because of love, happiness or sexual attraction rather than a sense of duty or for the sake of the children
Ulrich beck (negotiated family) concept
Roles and power structure within the family is negotiated by the members to satisfy all members and argues we live in a ‘risk society’ where tradition has less influence and people have more choice and as a result we developed a ‘risk consciousness’ as we spend more time calculating the risks and rewards of different courses of action available
Stacy: ‘family is an ambiguous fluid’ concept
Women have more freedom then ever before to shape their family arrangement to meet their needs and free themselves from patriarchy. Many women reject traditional housewife roles and vary in paths
Divorce extended family
Members are connected by divorce rather than marriage
Positive evaluations of the post modernist perspective
- dual earner is norm in society today
- not everyone wants to marry, people of older age may choose not too
Negative evaluations of the post modernist perspective
- over emphasis the amount of choice people have when it comes to relationships
- gender roles disadvantage women remains the norm
3 types of cohabitation
- temporary and informal
- substitute to marriage
- trial marriage
What is temporary and informal cohabitation
- spend time together
- sharing housing
- casual
What is substitute to marriage cohabitation
- long term
- stable and committed
- no legal commitments
What is trial cohabitation
- prep for marriage
- 80% of couples cohabit before marrying
Why might people choose to cohabit
Economic reasons: marriage is expensive and people may prioritise housing over wedding
Changing social attitudes: young people no longer need to commit to marriage straight away, rising divorce rates may put people off, marriage is less practical
Secularisation: influence of religion on society has decreased
Changing role of women: growing independence and own careers and are less willing to take on demands of mother roles
LATs
Living apart together
Pure relationship
Intimacy of a couple, individual autonomy
Who came up with LATs
Levin (2004)
Levin: LATs
Long term, committed relationship but couple do not share a home and is an approved alternative to marriage
Why is there a rise in LATs
- responsibility and care: don’t want relationship to get in the way of others in their life
- practical reasons: different workplaces/study places
- risk: people don’t want to risk a mistake
Different types of marriage
Monogamy
Open
Polygamous
Polygyny
Polyandry
Arranged marriage
Forced marriage
Polygamous
Having one or more partner at once
Monogamy
Having one partner at one time
Polygyny
Man has more than one wife
Polyandry
Women has more than one husband
Reasons for trends in marriage
Reduced function of the family: less pressure on family other structures have come about
Reducing risk: less controlled by societies views and more risk in people’s lives
Changing role of women: liberal fems - women get married later, work shift
Growing securalisation: marriage is less religious now
Rising divorce rates: wary of marriage now
Changing social attitudes: more choice in life now, more accepted other ideas (Cohab)
Economic reasons: marriage is expensive, decline is caused wait till later when they can afford it
Positive impacts of marriage and cohabitation
- fems: more negotiations and equality in roles
- cohabitation is more of a norm now
Negative impacts of marriage and cohabitation
- cohabitation is less stable than marriage + easier to leave
- marriage less shows lack of commitment
- children of cohabitation are disadvantaged
Types of marital breakdown
- divorce: legal declaration of dissolving a marriage
- separation
- empty shell: children left
- annulment: marriage was never legal
2 types of annulment
Voided - (under 16, already married, close family member)
Defective - one partner has an std, not consummated
1949 legal aid and advice act
Provided financial support to those who couldn’t afford divorce
1969 divorce reform act
allowed for irreconcilable difference as a reason for divorce and allowed women to file divorce without adultery proven
What did the 1969 divorce act do
1950 - 20,000 divorces per year
1980s - 160,000 per year
BOOSTED IT
Divorce trends
- 42% of marriages end in divorce
- 16% end by 60th anniversary
- average marriage : 32 years
- 34% end by 20th wedding anniversary
Reasons for divorce increase
- changes to law:1969 reform act
- securisation: marriage is no longer sacred
- changing attitudes: socially acceptable
- rising expectations of marriage: marriage isn’t what people thought, leave
- decline in influence of extended family: less practical
- changing role of women: women are more likely to file for divorce, not what they thought/expected
- rising life expectancy: people live longer, gives marriage more time to go wrong
- greater availability of contraception: no longer accidentally having children, can be more careful and safer to do so
Impact of divorce on children
negative effext
New right view on divorce
Eroding the fabric of society
Feminist view on divorce
- helped women gain freedom
- rising divorce doesn’t mean anti marriage